Donna was twenty-nine when she died of cancer. She was married to Andy and they
have a daughter, Cara who is just two. I make no apologies for the fact that what
I am about to write is very personal because with Donna, everything was about being
personal. She was about getting involved, not being afraid to shine a light into
dark corners because it might mean you need to make a response and take action when
it might be more comfortable to pretend you didn’t know it was there. Forthright
and honest, you never had to wonder about Donna’s opinion of life, death or God. For
Donna, God was never very far away; He was central to her being.

Throughout her ‘journey’ with cancer, and I use her word not mine, she faced her
own dark corner and shouldered not only her own grief but also the sadness of the
people who loved her. And I think about that word ‘journey.’ She had no patience
with the words ‘fight’ or ‘battle’ there was nothing she could do to win this one
and she wasn’t leaving this world a loser. Journey would also be the word I would
choose to describe her life. Short it may have been; cruelly so, but with every
hurdle she overcame, she grew in strength and insight and character. It was these
qualities which drove her to help set up a project to look after prostitutes in Hull
and then to nurse and counsel people with AIDS.

I knew her for such a short time, but from the first encounter I felt that I had
gained a friend. She had the gift of making people feel valued and cared for. You
learned never to ask her opinion if all you were looking for was reinforcement of
your own views. She was fiercely loyal and if you were between a rock and a hard
place, you could count on her to be there with you.

Bolshy, impatient, strong-minded, headstrong, vibrant, warm, caring, devoted. Take
your pick, you could use one or all of these characteristics to describe Donna. But
most of all, I know that Cara, who is just setting out on her own journey, will grow
up with the knowledge that her mother was a person who inspired love. A love that
will remain with us, always.